Kyrgios, who retired from his first-round match at Indian Wells this month due to pain in his surgically repaired right wrist, soaked in the moment, looking skyward and taking a deep breath after sealing the win.

“It has been a long journey even to get to the start line of matches and be scared to even be able to finish them,” he told Tennis TV.

“So to come in and get a win and feel like I belong again, it’s pretty special.”

Kyrgios, who had lost all three matches he played this year, got off to a slow start on a hot and humid day in South Florida but after dropping the first set, he began to settle in, finding his rhythm on serve to level the contest.

In the decider, he hit a well-disguised drop shot to set up a break point and converted when his American opponent double-faulted to hand Kyrgios a 4-3 lead.

From there he rode his best shot, his booming serve, to the finish line.

Next up for Kyrgios is Russian Karen Khachanov, who stunned the Australian in a hard-fought quarterfinal at the 2022 US Open, a tournament Kyrgios was among the favourites to win that year.

Soon after that bitter disappointment he would take a lengthy break from the court to tend to a series of knee, foot and wrist problems that threatened to permanently derail the 29-year-old’s career before returning to the tour this year.

Frenchman Gael Monfils, Belgian David Goffin, and Russian-born Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik were among the players who also advanced out of the first round with wins on Wednesday.